Mikhail Borisovich Potapov

Mikhail Borisovich Potapov (; born 7 January 1963, Moscow) is a Soviet and Russian entomologist, a renowned systematist of springtails (Collembola). He has described numerous new species and 19 new genera of springtails, is the author of original methods for studying collembolans, revisions of major taxa, and is a historian of collembology. He works at the Institute of Biology and Chemistry of MPGU.

Biography Mikhail Potapov was born on 7 January 1963 in Moscow, USSR.

In 1985, he graduated from the Biology and Chemistry Faculty of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after V. I. Lenin (MGPI, now MPGU). Since 1981, under the guidance of Professor Nina Mikhailovna Chernova, he specialized in the systematics of springtails, studying them on expeditions to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Mordovia, the Volga region, Lithuania, and other regions of the USSR.

Since 1985, he worked in the problem laboratory "Dynamics of Populations and Reproduction of Useful Species" at MGPI, simultaneously being a postgraduate student in the Department of Zoology and Darwinism, Biology and Chemistry Faculty, MGPI. In 1989, he was inducted as a member of the Russian Entomological Society.

In 1992, he defended his Candidate of Sciences dissertation on "The Structure of the Genus and Species Characteristics in Springtails of the Family Isotomidae".

Since 1993, he has been a Senior Researcher at the Educational and Scientific Biological Center of the Moscow Pedagogical State University (MPGU). Since 2009 — Leading Researcher at the Educational and Scientific Center for Ecology and Biodiversity of MPGU.

In 2012, he participated in the international project "Springtails of the Pacific Littoral of Asia".

In January 2020, at a meeting of the Moscow Ethological Seminar, he gave a lecture on "The Sexual Behavior of Springtails".

Scientific contributions He established the subfamily Pachyotominae within the family Isotomidae (Collembola).

New genera He described new genera of springtails:

Aggressopygus Potapov et Babenko, 2014 Antarctophorus Potapov, 1992 Anurachorutes Kuznetsova et Potapov, 1988 Azoritoma Greenslade et Potapov, 2008 Caucasanura Kuznetsova et Potapov, 1988 Chionobora Greenslade et Potapov, 2015 Cylindropygus Deharveng, Potapov et Bedos, 2005 Dimorphacanthella Potapov, Huang, Gao et Luan, 2010 Dungeraphorura Gulgenova et Potapov, 2012 Ephemerotoma Potapov, Kahrarian, Deharveng et Shayanmehr, 2015 Ghirkanura Kuznetsova et Potapov, 1988 Isotopenola Potapov, Babenko, Fjellberg et Greenslade, 2009 Pauropygus Potapov, Gao et Deharveng, 2013 (family Isotomidae) Pseudoxenyllodes Kuznetsova et Potapov, 1988 Sahacanthella Potapov et Stebaeva, 1995 Secotomodes Potapov, 1988 (family Isotomidae) Sericeotoma Potapov, 1991 Sibiracanthella Potapov et Stebaeva, 1995 (family Isotomidae) Strenzketoma Potapov, Babenko et Fjellberg, 2006

New species From 1985 to 2024, he participated in the identification and description of over 260 new species of springtails from various regions of Russia and the world. See the list below: